Election Day in Queensland

This week all the news has been about the death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. The newspapers have devoted pages and pages each day to his life and the circumstances of his death. The kids at Elliott's school had a khaki dress day on Friday to raise money for Irwin's charity. They worked in the rainforest to raise awareness of conservation issues. Irwin was such a popular figure in Australia, and even more loved here in Queensland. This sad event pushed all the news of the Queensland elections to the inside pages of the news.

On Saturday, September 9, the vote was held in Queensland. The Labor government with Peter Beattie at the helm won a fourth term. Some interesting differences that I noticed here were: 1) No term restrictions 2) Polling places can be churches and 3) Voting is compulsary. Everyone must vote - you can vote in person or by mail. It all seemed very low key to me. We never watch TV, so maybe I missed most of it. There is no set date for the election. The party in power must call it within a certain amount of time, but it can be any time. It was 2 1/2 years since the last election and the Beattie government could have had up to 4 years between elections. So, they seem to call the election and campaign and vote all within a fairly short space of time.

There are several main areas that really need to be addressed here - water and healthcare being the two main issues. They are starting to meet tomorrow about Level 4 water restrictions. It is raining today and we have had a few days of rain, but I've read the dam the serves our area is only at 22% capacity. I've had a few days of tennis canceled with the rain and one day we were blown off the court with high winds.

We have encountered one more form of dangerous wildlife here in Brisbane. A friend from tennis knows two dogs that were killed by Brown snakes last week. But our closest personal encounter is with the Magpies! The birds are nesting now and get quite protective of their eggs. Tim was attacked while on his bike, but was luckily wearing his helmet. The signs in the local park recommend wearing a hat and carrying an umbrella to beat the birds when they swoop down. Even magpies are scary in Australia!